i've been trying to deal with ben from footprints, however it seems like he is not very interested in helping me find a position. the only time he called or contacted me was when i first signed up with him. it just seems like he is not too stoked to help me find a job. however they do seem to be professional, but not too motivated.

I agree that FootPrints is not very good. I dealt with Kara and Ben and they were very rude and made racist comments. I would never go back to them again. They left me hanging for two months and never once did they ever contact me to let me know what was going on. I finally emailed them but they did not answer it, then I finally had to call them and they told me that they weren't able to help me find a place. But before telling me why they couldn't place me, Kara made some racist remark that was shocked by it. I told her that she might not have meant it but her remark was insulting, but she told me she did mean what she said but that she didn't think it was racist and couldn't understand why I was being so defensive.

Footprints is an equal opportunity employer- not only because that is the law in Canada, but because this is also an individual moral imperative as well. Neither Kara or I nor any of our staff has ever used racist language, nor are we racist. If you are willing to contact me and give me a specific example of racist language used I would be happy to refute it. However all teachers we represent must be native English speakers, and speak English without a discernable accent. This is not racist- it would be unfair and disingenuous both to teachers and schools to present teachers with accents and non-native English speakers as native English speakers to ESL schools in Korea. Teachers in this position would not have a good experience, and schools would not be satisfied with our services, or the performance of these teachers.

Don't worry about salvaging your rep here, Ben. The word-of-mouth tide always flows against recruiters here, even if they are staffed with angels from heaven. Even if you don't have an advertising budget over $75/mnth and you need to do everything that you can to maximize responses from this place.

I used Footprints and they weren't able to find me anything... but I don't harbour and animosity towards them. It's not their fault if the schools they deal with only want to hire blonde, blue eyed, North American, women in their mid-20's... I mean the market is really more to blame. It's a cycle fed by the misconceptions of what quality English teachers are like. From what I've gathered the only schools that can really afford to use the recruiters are the ones who get the most income from a large student body. And they attract that many students because of the Korean perception that teachers who fit the profile I mentioned above, are better English teachers. I'm not sure if I'm correct about this but being non-caucasian and going through the job search process for over 2 months this is what I perceive of how things are.

Also I'm sure they get hundreds of applicants a week... finding a placement for everyone must be logistically impossible.

Teachkorea-NZ and their alternate identity, Teachkorea-USA. I first checked them out because they were whitelisted by EFL-Law. After working with them, I fully understand and support that whitelisting.

Although in the end they weren't able to line me up with anything I would jump at, they were 100% professional and supportive through the process. They were even upfront with me about some concerns they had with one school they did send me too. Just about the opposite of every other recruiter I've dealt with.

When I'm looking for another gig, I'll be getting in touch with them again. I'd advise other teachers to do the same.

esljobkorea is great. My recruiter's name is Su. She got me a 6 month contract at a decent school, pre-paid flight that she stayed up til 4 am to sort out, and since I've arrived she has contacted me to meet up more than once just to make sure I'm not lonely and that everything is going well. I also know she works with a colleague of mine who is here with his family and has been very accomodating to their needs. She helped them switch apartments and maintains an active relationship with them. I call her for things I need help with unrelated to job issues and she's always glad to help. Her contact is esl@esljobkorea.co.kr Good luck!

Has anyone any info on M&M Recruitment? I'm a recent graduate waiting for my diploma and have contacted 3 different recruiters. M&M is the only one who contacted me back, and explained that I had to have the diploma. There reply was very warm and seemed sincere, should I buy it?

I believe I have read some bad things elsewhere on this site about M&M, who I think also use different names. Can anyone verify?

Ah, yes, it is in the "job-related discussion" forum... ......"New Bridge Recruitment"... also known as "M&M" and "Manhattan" according to the posters there. The words on that thread is avoid them.

I used Kim & Joe, with Amy Lee as the recruiter, a few times. For a first-time teacher, I found them to be good, but for a returning teacher, they aren't as good.
The first time I used them, they were professional, quick, and hooked me up with a good school and picked me up at the airport.
When I used them again, they told me one starting date and the school a different, later starting date. I hurried my a$$ to get all the documents and visa stuff finished and cut short a trip so that I could make it to the school by the date they wanted. I arrived in the city and at the school only to find that the teacher I was replacing still had a week of work left and the school didn't expect me to arrive for a week and a half. I ended up staying in a motel for 5 days at my own expense.
That job also turned out to be crappy and I left it, but that wasn't the recruiter's fault.

I used ASK Now and they were awesome. Some friends of mine came as a couple and they used a recruiter named James Jeong. He took care of everything for them. Both recruiters are fluent in English and Korean so they can help you out with just about anything. I've also heard good things about kim n joe for Busan.